Great Places Housing Group Limited GREAT PLACES MARCH 2023 YEAR END RESULTS (0369O)

TIDM15HG

RNS Number : 0369O

Great Places Housing Group Limited

28 September 2023

GREAT PLACES HOUSING GROUP LIMITED

GBP345,000,000 4.75 per cent Secured Bonds due 2042 (ISIN Number XS0842152281)

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31ST MARCH 2023

At the AGM of Great Places Housing Group Limited ("Great Places") on 21st September 2023 the shareholders agreed and adopted the Financial Statements for the year ending 31st March 2023.

It should be noted that the Financial Statements contain several references to the intended merger between Great Places Housing Group and Mosscare St Vincents Housing Group (MSV) which was to take place during the 2023/24 financial year, however since signing the accounts the merger discussions have ended.

Links to the Financial Statements, and the statement issued on 15(th) September 2023 regarding the ending of merger discussions, are provided at the end of this announcement.

In 2022/23 the Group generated Turnover of GBP168M, up by 1% from the GBP166M recorded in 2021/22 with Turnover from social housing lettings of GBP121.3M (2021/22: GBP114.8M).

Turnover from shared ownership first tranche sales and open market sales was GBP34.3M (2021/22: GBP40.0M) and, whilst lower than the prior year, is in line with our planned Development Programme.

Operating surplus of GBP45.9M was 1.8% lower than 2021/22 with Operating Margin declining slightly to 23.6% from 25.3% (as defined by the RSH VFM metric). The reduction was mainly due to the inflationary increases around maintenance costs and building safety costs.

Total Fixed Assets were GBP1.48bn (2022/23: GBP1.41bn).

Total debt was GBP697.8M (2021/22: GBP709.1M) with the majority of our debt, 95.4% being fixed rate and protecting us from the high interest rates seen during the year. In addition, we held Group cash balances of GBP96m.

Operational performance remained strong despite the challenging economic and operating environments and external pressures including rising material and labour costs, significantly increasing energy costs and high inflation levels. In addition, there was a cap on rents, imposed by Government, effective from April 2023, that was well below the levels of inflation, which adds to the many challenges that we face.

We had expected that general inflationary pressures to significantly impact tenant arrears, however this was mitigated by support provided to our tenants through energy bill support and our Hardship and Community Resilience Funds. W e recognise that the cost of living crisis will continue to put increased pressure on arrears performance.

Customer safety remains paramount, and we continue to assess our buildings and carry out works to meet building safety legislation, spending GBP2.2m during 2022/23.

Our commitment to improving energy efficiency in our homes is continuing, with a target to achieve EPC C by 2028, and we have been successful in securing GBP1.4m of funding from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund which will be match funded by Great Places. We plan to use this to support the installation of energy performance measures in 396 of our homes in Manchester and Sheffield. We have also been successful in our bid for GBP1.6m of grant funding to improve heat networks which serve circa 300 residents.

Repairs continue to be the most regularly accessed service by our customers, with approximately 58,000 repairs requests during 2022/23 equating to approximately 225 jobs each working day. The greater demand during 2022/23 can be partially attributed to increased media focus on property condition in the sector, together with our proactive campaigns to report issues, with damp and mould inspections increasing significantly since October 2022. Resources have been prioritised on these inspections and rectification works with the vast majority highlighting issues around high condensation levels and increased humidity rather than severe structural issues. The works associated with these inspections are being delivered by both the in-house and sub-contractor teams.

During the year we completed 649 much needed new affordable homes and, at 31(st) March 2023, own or manage 25,474 homes across the North West and South Yorkshire.

In addition to the completions, there were 852 affordable homes started across 17 sites and despite the continuing challenges for the development sector, as at the end of March 2023, we had 37 live sites with around 1,600 new homes being built.

The Group is committed to playing its part in tackling the housing crisis and providing much needed affordable homes. In September 2021, we were extremely pleased to be selected as a Strategic Partner for the Strategic Partnership 2 with Homes England, securing GBP240.8m of grant funding to help us to deliver 4,920 homes by 2028. The challenges faced, including increasing cost pressures meant that we recently held further discussions around our delivery expectations with Homes England and we can confirm that our delivery volumes will be reducing slightly to 4,500 and our grant increasing to GBP270m.

The Regulator of Social housing (the "regulator") graded Great Places as G1/V2 in December 2022 as part of a review cycle. The regrade to V2 for so many in the sector is reflective of the environment in which we operate, however retaining our G1 grade demonstrates our strong Governance and Financial Management arrangements helping us manage any increased risks.

Our credit ratings with Moodys, A3 and Fitch, A+, were also reaffirmed during the year demonstrating that we remain a financially strong and resilient organisation with strong governance and a sound business strategy.

As a profit for purpose organisation, we ensure that all our surpluses are invested in line with our values and to meet our vision of "Great Homes, Great People, Great Communities".

The Financial Statements for Great Places are available on our website at:

https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/about-us/corporate-and-investor-information/financial-accounts

Great Places statement from 15(th) September 2023 with regards to merger discussions:

https://www.greatplaces.org.uk/?news=great-places-and-msv-end-merger-talks

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September 28, 2023 08:01 ET (12:01 GMT)

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